The CEO, Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited, Femi Otedola has described as ‘laughable,’ the emergency session of the House of Representatives on Friday, which returned the name of his company into the list of companies indicted by the committee that investigated the management of the fuel subsidy regime.
The indicted companies are accused of collecting foreign exchange from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), for fuel subsidy fund but failed to import or deliver the petroleum products.
Mr Otedola in a statement on Friday claimed that he stated all the facts on the allegation in his interview with the ThisDay newspaper, where he alleged that the chairman House of Representatives committee on Fuel Subsidy, Farouk Lawan, asked him for a $3million bribe, so that his companies will not be included in the list of indicted companies.
“I have stated the facts in my interview with Thisday newspaper and nothing but the facts” he stated.
Following a part payment of $620,000 to the lawmaker, Mr Lawan during the presentation of the Fuel Subsidy Report recommended the removal of Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited and Synopsis Enterprises Limited, from the list.
The House of Representatives at the emergency session called on Friday to address the allegation, unanimously agreed that Mr Otedola’s company, Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited and Synopsis Enterprises Limited, must be returned to the list.
The billionaire oil magnate again affirmatively alleged “that Farouk Lawan demanded $3 million from me and because I refused to oblige him he included the name of Zenon amongst those who bought forex without importing petroleum products.”
He further explained that the bribe was solicited without asking his company to submit any document to prove the alleged transaction, stating that “he (Farouk Lawan) did this without even asking Zenon to produce a single document of the forex transaction.” “He clearly wanted to extort money for an offence I did not commit.”
Citing the adage “people who live in glass houses should not throw stones”, Mr Otedola argued that he had nothing to hide, hence his move to involve the State Security Service (SSS) in the sting operation, “that is why I went to report to the security agencies. If I had anything to hide I wouldn’t have gone to the agencies” he explained.
“If people at my level who have worked hard to build their businesses can be blackmailed this way all in a bid to extort money from them, I pity people that are just starting out in business in this country.”
“In all my business dealings I have always been above board and the records are there to prove. As far as I know Lawan could not have been working alone in this extortionist plot. A tree does not make a forest. “
The billionaire also stated that he has nothing to do with the second company, Synopsis enterprises Ltd included in the report.
He concluded by saying “actions of today by the house is laughable” adding that it is “a mere celebration of corruption and a further indictment on their honorable member.”